Hi Betsy welcome to WI. It is a beutiful state to live in. I am sure you will enjoy gardening here. I am currently over on the wintersowing forum getting ready to plant seeds into containers for spring germination. Check it out if you get a chance. Barb

Hi Barb and thanks for the welcome. I grew up in Cental Ohio..lived a year in West Virginia. Then back to Col. Ohio for eight years. Then off to Seattle for 13 years. Then to Minn for two years. Houston for one year now in Wi.
Whewww. I think my DH still thinks he is an airforce brat!

I have done wintersowing.. a few years ago we lived in the Minn. Mn area. It was quite a change from the Pac. Northwest. I am collecting my containers!
Betsy

Welcome Betsy!

If you grew up in Ohio, I imagine Wisconsin has a similar climate & zone. I see you have the same birthday as me, although I'm a little older. Hope you can stay settled for a while, and have fun gardening here.

Julie, (SE WI)

Well Betsy, you sure took your time getting here. We've been waiting and waiting. Weren't you told to come straight home?! ;-)

Seriously, hope this really is home for you and you get a chance to literally put down some roots.

tj

Hey Betsy, let me add my greetings and welcome.
So, do you live in Madison? If so, that is a lovely, (if confusing to drive) city, with all the lake areas. One of my kids went to college there and now my grandson, and several neices and nephews too. Has your granddaughter arrived yet? I looked at your page, and you mentioned you were expecting baby Lily soon.

I think you will find this is quite an easy state to garden in. The soil is mostly good, if somewhat clayish. Still it is rich soil. And we have mostly adequate rainfall, the winters arent too dreadful. We dont get quite enough good snow cover tho. You will find that there is plenty of greenery, lots of leaves, plenty of wood chips, etc to make your own compost, and the biggest asset of all....lots of fresh clean water. Someday, that will be as valuable as oil is now. Hope you enjoy gardening with us.
Pondy

Hi Pondy!
I live in Dodgeville. I really like it here in Wi.
I think it is incredibly beautiful here and the people are without a doubt the friendliest I have ever met.
My grandbaby Lily has joined our family. She's 8 months old now. Last night she said "Hi" to me on the phone. It was wonderful!
Thanks for the welcome
Betsy

Betsy,

Welcome to the Wisconsin forum! I live in the Madison area, in DeForest, which is 15 minutes drive from East Towne Mall. The soil in DeForest and Madison is wonderful compared to where I lived 2 yrs ago (in Menasha, near Appleton, WI). I had so much clay there that I had to replace the top 12" in order to grow anything! Here in DeForest, the soil is brown, loamy with just enough sand in it to crumble nicely. All the plants I moved from Menasha (and that is alot! - 160 varieties of hosta alone) not only survived but flourished!

What kind of soil and light conditions do you have in your yard in Dodgeville? We have lots of mature trees and since my passion was hostas anyway, I gravitate to shade gardening. I now have 242 varieties of hosta and probably about 350 hostas including the varieties I have duplicates of.

Are you starting from scratch or did the previous owner leave you with a ready made garden? Do you like what they left you or do your gardening passions go elsewhere? I recall greeting a new neighbor down the street late summer and she said in her sweet accent, "I'm sure the previous owner liked these plants and that they are very nice, but to me they are...how do you say...WEEDS!" I laughed and assured her that alot of her new neighbors felt the same way. The previous owner liked everything "natural" which just looked uncared for/neglected to the rest of us.

My point is that you may want to do your own thing/put your own stamp on as well!

We just had a bunch of trees in our backyard, so we added an arbor and a small hosta bed. That large trunk at the left of the picture is only a part of the trunk from Wisconsin's largest black cherry tree...
{{gwi:909468}}

And another big bed about 90 feet long and 20 feet deep...
{{gwi:909469}}

{{gwi:909470}}

Then we dug up next to the garage...
{{gwi:911782}}

And created another new huge bed in August which started like this after removing the sod....
{{gwi:911769}}

and ended like this...{{gwi:911775}}

and this
{{gwi:911779}}

All of this was created over 2 summers since we moved here. It doesn't take that long. I will admit that many of my plants were mature but a third were new this year. I also am retired so I get to spend a good part of my day playing outside. Hostas are one of easiest plants to grow and as you can see from the photographs vary wildly in color and form. And size-wise, mature plants can range from 6" across to 6' across!

If any of these pics speak to any of you, I invite you to join us at the GW Hosta Forum.

Char

Betsy, Oh, I envy you this first christmas with a baby just old enough to be fun and aware. My last grandbabe was born 8 years ago. But he is still fun to buy toys for.

I have a niece in Middleton, so that is the only 'burb around Madison that I am familiar with. You picked a great place to live. Madison (and area) always ranks as among the top 10 places to live in the USA.

Stay in touch with all us Wisconsin gardeners. We love to initiate newbys and help you along. I live in West Bend, so if you are ever in this area, let me know, via email.
Meantime, Stay OnLine! Pondy

Are fox glove easy to grow from seed?

Yes, very easy, Suprstock.